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Trivia:

The bomb-maker Claude Ravache is inspired by a real anarchist, François Claudius Koenigstein Ravachol, who was active until his execution in 1892.See more »

Goofs:

Anachronisms: When Holmes and company escapes from the war factory they are shelled by mortars. But mortars of the type shown in the movie were invented after the Russian-Japanese war of 1904/5.See more »

Quotes:

[first lines] Dr. John Watson:[voice-over] The year was 1891. Storm clouds were brewing over Europe. France and Germany were at each other's throats, the result of a series of bombings. Some said it was the Nationalists. Others, the anarchists. But as usual, my friend Sherlock Holmes, had a different theory entirely.See more »

Professor Moriarty: Are you sure you want to play this game? Sherlock
Holmes: I'm afraid you'd lose.

In Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, my mind turns two ways: The
first half is guns, gunpowder, and gymnastics. Sherlock Holmes (Robert
Downey, Jr.) and Dr. Watson (Jude Law) contend with the salvation of
civilization mostly through athletics, aided by director Guy Ritchie's
considerable skill with the camera and graphics.

But in the second half, when the duo moves swiftly but intellectually
to confront the arch villain Professor James Moriarty (Jared Harris),
my mind is at equilibrium, renewing my love of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's
original brainy, eccentric sleuth. The chess game is a marvel of
strategy, replete with revenge, intrigue, and just plain ingenuity.
Director Guy Ritchie's visuals include delightful Downey disguises and
lively speed ramping in a forest bombarded by bullets. Hans Zimmer's
music leans heavily on the fiddle to lighten the load of a difficult
plot.

Watson's marriage, rather than taking away from the bromance, adds
unexpected color and creativity. So Ritchie has ramped up the
intellectual content and at least balanced it with the athletic, which
was a strength of his 2009 version, Sherlock Holmes. With Inspector
Lastrade just a memory and Holmes's love, Irene Adler (Rachel McAdams),
appearing briefly, we are left to enjoy not so much the interaction of
Holmes and Watson but the explosiveness of Holmes and Moriarty.

After a first half of explosions, the second half satisfies
traditionalists like me for the chess game of life and deathand that's
the suspenseful fate of the world in those pieces. Director Guy Ritchie
has improved on his 2009 version.

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